Well I finally finished Dog in the Night and i found it a touching story about coping in the modern world. While everyone else who is supposed to be "normal" around him wrecks marriages and breaks up their relationships and homes he seems to come through the whole experience in one small sense saner than them. Which says more to me about the modern world than the protagonist in the story.

More recommendations please!

Well I recentlyx got hold of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time and am awaiting a chance to dive in. With parents from UK out here time os short but I can't wait. With a mum who was a nurse of mental patients for 28 years - utter respect for her now I'm older - the world of the brain if yopu get my drift, is a fascinating area.

Blindness by Jose Sarramago is an amazing book. Not like Pi in the feelgood stakes, but certainly makes you think a l ot about (in)humanity.

heh heh... yappybluedog: i was twipping over my words, just like old elmer.

waggedwobin.

Maninadirndl, someone said that to me on Twitter once

What on earth does it mean?

Raggedrobin: perhaps your Google language setting is Elmer Fudd. Give that a twy!

woops! that should say surrealism.

even cowgirls get the blues is by one of my favourite authors, tom robbins, and i was going to suggest him to maninadirndl, if you like a bit of surrwalism, or magic realism.

my favourite book of his is jitterbug perfume, probably. but they are all hilarious and wonderful.

Good get Meg*.

*Maninadirndl - sore head today?

Staines -- you're thinking of Even Cowgirls Get The Blues.

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco.

And if you really want your head messed with, some Thomas Pynchon -- Gravity's Rainbow is the biggie but you could start with The Crying Of Lot 49.

I loved Life of Pi, I also enjoyed (but not to same level) White Tiger which was also a man booker prize winner.

Whoever recommended Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night was right, it's supurb as is A Spot of Bother by the same guy who's name I can't remember right now

I might look out for Dice Man, not heard of that one before.

tree with teeth???? no don't think I got that far

Staines...wasn't that some Kerouac novel?

All that motorbike repair stuff hit home when I was mending my Lada Niva which kept falling to bits whilst driving it across the Saudi Arabian desert 19945-6.

Years back a mate of mine worked for Smiths near you. I remember meeting him in Hounslow East tube stop. Somewhere near you used to be Brentford Nylons which I cam still remember Alan Freeman advertising. did you know he was a puff who had a boyfriend who we know down in Dordogne region?

Baby in corner. Get back to it woman. Be warned the end is a shock and brilliant. Did you stop at the tree with teeth?

Feckinelliampissed.

I didn't get through Life of Pi. You have now made me want to read it again and finish it.

Maninadindl - me too. I loved the beginning, when he is describing driving around on his bike, very vivid, but once he disappeared up his own arse with his meditations on quality........all over!

on the other hand, what was that other 70's american counter culture one, with the girl with massive thumbs? they made a film out of it with uma thurman.

Staines dear. I tried that book when I was a student.

That quality bit got a bit intense didn't it? The book sucked in all my earnestness until about five pages in the middle when I went...

"Haven't a fecking clue what he's on about, all this Phaedrus stuff."!

told yer!

Have to wait till these books appear in Holzkirchen Bavaria English Bücher section then!

Which funnily enough may happen. We've got six shelves to pick from which for the middle of nowhere is pretty good.

catch 22 is similar-ish, i loved it.
zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, though i lost interest when he started disecting the nature of 'quality'

naw dont get me started on Time Traveller wife,shite

I hated dice man, loved Pi!

How about the time travellers wife...loved and hated equally but a bit surreal and easy to read.

I really en joyed it so 50% 50% you will too!

thanks!didnt know that

Guy who wrote Dice Man is Luke Rhinehart real name George Cockroft.

No it is not the same formula as Pi. Pi is unique and you must not in the case of Pi ever reveal to the person in the middle of the book what comes at the end which is awesome.

Both books are what i might deem the literary equivalent of smoking dope whilst straight. Reality gets bent slightly. They make you think.

i liked dice man

Who wrote it? Is the style similar to Pi?

Its a kind of surreal novel about a bored psychiatrist in New York who decides to liver entirely by the throw of the dice. Having had some "therapy" years back I found it part. funny. He decides to write down all his decisions as dice throws, e.g., two equals go downstairs and have affair with colleague's wife.

You have to read it it was a 70s classic.

Never heard of Dice Men, btw, What's it about and is it worth it?

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time. And he did another, but I can't remember what it's called and all my books are in store in the garage at the mo whilst we're sorting out the 'nursery'...

Just read both of these books, I was led to Life of Pi by a blog somewhere which mentioned it whilst discussing Dice Man. I think Life of Pi is one of the most fascinating novels I have ever read (not that I've read a huge amount mind you)

I'm honoured to have received an email from the author of Dice Man.

Can anyone recommend owt similar?